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John Kerry officially won the party’s nomination, but the victory was not an entirely unanimous one with 37 votes going to Ohio Congressmember Dennis Kucinich. We speak with one of the Kucinich delegates. [includes rush transcript]

John Kerry was officially won the party’s nomination last night with 4,255 delegates. But it was not an entirely unified house. Ohio Congressmember Dennis Kucinich was the only other candidate to receive delegate votes yesterday. He received 37 delegates, led by his supporters in the delegations from Maine and Colorado. Last night, Kucinich addressed the convention.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), speaking at the Democratic National Convention.

Shortly after he spoke, we made our way into the crowd of delegates from the state of Maine. We spoke with Kucinich delegate Lu Bauer.

Lu Bauer, Kucinich delegate.

TRANSCRIPT

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMYGOODMAN: Well, Senator Kerry officially won the party’s nomination last night with 4,255 delegates. But it was not entirely unified house. Ohio congress member Dennis Kucinich was the only other candidate to receive delegate votes. He received 37 delegates led by his supporters in the delegations from Maine and Colorado. Last night, Dennis Kucinich addressed the convention.

DENNISKUCINICH: This administration rushed us into a war based on distortions and misrepresentations. We must hold them accountable. [cheering] Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or with al Qaeda’s role in 9/11. (applause) We have found no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. (applause). I was Mayor of Cleveland and—[cheering]—and I could tell you that I have seen weapons of mass destruction in our cities. Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction. Joblessness is a weapon of mass destruction. Homelessness a weapon of mass destruction. Racism a weapon of mass destruction. Fear a weapon of mass destruction. We must disarm these weapons. [cheering] We must disarm these weapons and renew our commitment to quality public schools and dedicated teachers and good housing and quality health care and decent jobs and stronger neighborhoods. It’s been said once we walk, there will be a path. So, let us blaze a new path with John Kerry and John Edwards. This convention will lead us toward the victory, not just of a party, but the victory of the American people over fear, a victory of hope over despair. A victory of faith over cynicism. A victory for health care. For civil liberties. For work worker’s rights. For human rights. For the environment. For peace. Courage, America! Courage, America! John Kerry, America. Thank you.

AMYGOODMAN: Former Democratic presidential candidate and Ohio congress member Dennis Kucinich addressing the Democratic National Convention last night. Shortly after he spoke, we made our way to the crowd of delegates in the main section. They had just unfurled a pink banner calling for the end of war showing their support for Dennis Kucinich. A banner similar to those that had been pulled from delegates, Kucinich delegates in other states earlier this week. We spoke with one of those delegates as she was Lu Bauer.

LU BAUER: We really want people to know that the Kucinich delegation in Maine and Kucinich organization in Maine is going to be working really hard to defeat George Bush, and we need to maintain their trust, the trust of our constituents who are very progressive in Maine and therefore we are voting unanimously for Dennis Kucinich here at the convention while pledging our allegiance to the campaign to elect John Kerry.

AMYGOODMAN: Are you alone, of the Kucinich delegates, the six of you, who are going to vote for Dennis?

LU BAUER: As far as I know, we are the only delegation at this point unanimously voting for Dennis Kucinich.

AMYGOODMAN: Did you feel pressure when you put up the pink sign?

LU BAUER: No, actually, with the pink signs, we felt support. A lot of other people, the people in Florida that we have gotten to know and the other delegates in Maine were willing to hold Kucinich signs. People have said that Dennis wouldn’t get as much of a response as Howard Dean did. But the minute he came in, everybody was on their feet. It was really good. And he’s committed to doing this. He knows how important it is for to us have a president who won’t veto, hopefully, universal health care and has progressive issues that we will be bringing forward with the democratic congress.

AMYGOODMAN: Is there pressure for you not to vote for Kucinich?

LU BAUER: There was a lot of pressure for us not to vote for Kucinich.

AMYGOODMAN: Who is applying the pressure?

LU BAUER: Everyone—there are individuals within our delegation are speaking to us, there are others within the Kucinich delegation who are speaking to us. Staff is not trying to lead us at all, which I think is really great. Kucinich has asked us to vote for John Kerry. And so we had to make a tough decision strategically. And, because we don’t want to hurt Dennis’s career or we don’t want to hurt access for the progressives in the Democratic Party which we realize that our vote could conceivably affect. But we feel so strongly that the constituency in Maine, it’s so important to us being able to win the elections.

AMYGOODMAN: Maine Kucinich delegate Lu Bauer, one of the 37 delegates who voted for Dennis Kucinich last night instead of John Kerry who overwhelmingly took the democratic nomination.

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